Aisling Dolan (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

It is an honour to speak about and pay tribute to John Bruton. I first remember his family. We all know what it is like to make sacrifices as public representatives and I am sure it was true for John as well. He gave hours for the country, for us in the Dáil and in this House. Those were hours he was not with his family and we must remember at times like these the sacrifice that he made.

Many people have paid tribute here. I knew John as a citizen. I knew him from seeing him as our Taoiseach on the television. I was at home yesterday to hear and see the tributes that were paid by people who acknowledged the work he did. I listened to the Minister, Deputy McEntee, talk about how his word was his bond.We talk about how his word was his bond. I heard and saw the piece he did just before the divorce referendum. He spoke about how we need to think of others. I really thought that was the mark of the man that he would say to people going out to vote in the referendum that they might have a perfect, happy marriage but ask them to think of others they knew who were in difficult situations. There is something to be said there about someone who has empathy and understanding and who could see his country and society as it was and how it should be. That was extremely strong.

We have had a sad time recently in County Roscommon as well. Senator Murphy spoke about the passing in our area of John Connor and the sadness around that. The sadness in the House today is the same as for those people who have been representatives in our area in Roscommon-Galway. Former Senator Michael Mullins has said much about John Bruton's integrity which was absolutely outstanding. He said it was John Bruton's work in many Departments over the years that laid the foundation for the economy we see today. They also spoke about that on the news yesterday and about the budgets they strove to put together as part of all of these coalitions and that much of that was adopted at a later stage. The work John Bruton did in a financial setting and that he started was adopted long term in other Governments. When you look at a country that suffered so badly in the 50s and 60s with poverty in an area he would have known well due to his family and background, but also to have seen the impact of immigration in the 80s in particular and to now see a country that is at full employment and the highest population ever, is there any better tribute to the work that has been done over decades to get us to this point?

It is an honour to be here as a member of Fine Gael to be able to speak on behalf of John's tribe and his party. We are all the better for having had John Bruton as our Taoiseach. Citizens across the country would have seen the work he did and how his politics was a politics of consensus as has been said. He believed in making the impossible possible and that is something that is magical about politics. It really is. Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam.